by guest contributor
Photo credit: Courtesy of Patakis Publishers
“This is a considerable honor and a wonderful surprise for which I’m extremely grateful. At a time when Greece must feel itself to be in the eye of several hurricanes at once, it is humbling to realize that my Greek colleagues (whom I salute and thank) maintain a sympathy and an enthusiasm for stories such as mine, written far from their shores and in a distant language; and indeed emanating from a country as globally inattentive as mine, in the US,” said author Richard Ford who was honored with the Athens Prize for Literature 2015 Award for Best Fiction Book Translated into Greek for his work, CANADA. The Athens Prize for Literature, established in 2006 by the journal DEKATA (or ‘tenths’ in English) in collaboration with the City of Athens, searches every year for the best Greek fiction and the best fiction book translated into Greek.
“We read more than 50 books translated into Greek from all over the world in order to choose the top 10. A wide variety of novel forms and expressions are included in this shortlist,” remarked author and member of the jury of the Athens Prize for Literature Theodoros Grigoriadis during the award ceremony on December 10 held in the Athens Town Hall, the 1872 white marble building in the historical center of the city.
Theodoros Grigoriadis announces the award for CANADA
Juan Gabriel Vasquez from Colombia, Jhumpa Lahiri from India, Hannah Kent from Australia, Milan Kundera from the Czech Republic, Andrey Kurkof from Ukraine and Haruki Murakami from Japan were included in the shortlist along with four American authors: Dave Eggers for The Circle, Ruth Ozeki for A Tale for the Time Being, Thomas Pynchon for Bleeding Edge and the winner, Richard Ford, for CANADA.
Is there such an admiration among Greeks for American writers? Does American literature produce the best works of fiction? Or is it the translation that makes a book so attractive to the reader? Richard Ford gives the answer: “Translation, of course, is the magic key. And I warmly thank my publisher Patakis and the translator of CANADA Mr Thomas Skassis for his considerable efforts and genius. It is, of course, through the grace of translation that ‘American literature’ becomes ‘Greek literature’ and Greek literature American; and by its generosity also that otherwise un-noticeable imaginative writers such as I are permitted to play even a small part in calming those storms I mentioned before. We all certainly would play such a role if we could.”
Thomas Skassis reading selected texts of the book
Dell Parsons, a man in his sixties, fugitive from USA to Canada when he was 15 years old, is the hero in CANADA. His parents were arrested in Montana when they attempted to rob a bank when he was a child. CANADA is Dell Parsons’ unknown but only safe exit that will allow him to grow up and begin a new life. However, the forbidden land and the trap across from his homeland, keeps Dell’s memories alive and full of bitterness for having lost his family. Dell’s bitterness is similar to today’s Syrian refugees’ sorrow, as they arrive in Greece in thousands. Fugitives from their motherland as well search for a place to rebuild their lives.
Richard Ford
“When cultures clash and religions feud, and when ‘the other man or woman’ suddenly seems to be our opponent and enemy, it is often only a result of a failure of imagination, and of imagination’s natural ally – empathy – which permits this travesty to occur. This is the small portion we novelists have to contribute – our free imaginations, focused upon our fellow men and women – in whom we see ourselves,” pointed out Richard Ford in his message.
City of Athens Mayor George Kaminis and Alexandros Patakis, head of Patakis Publication House
The ceremony in the marvelous Athens Town Hall was frugal. On behalf of Richard Ford, the Greek editor of Canada, Alexandros Patakis, received the Best Fiction Book Translated into Greek Award from the Mayor of Athens, George Kaminis. The string quartet from the Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Athens filled the ornate wooden hall on the first floor of the historical building with its music. A short distance from the Athens Town Hall, refugees attempt to settle into a new life. On the other side of the Town Hall, the ancient temple of Parthenon on the Acropolis illuminates the Athens sky. Throughout its great history, Athens has been privileged to accommodate refugees and honor writers, and in doing so, to sensitize its readers to the immigration crisis. A literature award from Athens, the birthplace of democracy and letters, undoubtedly encapsulates the collective value of all its philosophers, writers and poets throughout the centuries.
